About

Cultivate Kansas City is a locally-grown nonprofit working to grow food, farms, and community in support of a sustainable and healthy local food system for all. We believe that growing and sharing local food nurtures our ability to care for each other and the world in which we live.

Our Vision

Cultivate KC works to create a democratic, just and sustainable food system that is resilient and adaptable which entails:

viable farm and food businesses across the food region

local food access for all

local food integrated into the civic life of the community

This also is a food system where:

people take ownership of the local food system as whole and in their own personal lives and

the ecological and personal health and well-being of KC residents is prioritized

Our History

Cultivate KC began in 2005 as the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture with the goal of promoting urban agriculture — the growing of food in city neighborhoods to feed other people. In the years since, Cultivate KC has grown into a resource provider and advocate in support of the production of fresh, nutritious produce in urban areas throughout the KC metro.

Our focus was broadened in response to community needs and the rapidly changing food system. We’ve seen remarkable development in the ways people are interested in growing and accessing local food, and we’ve adapted our work to serve those changes.

In 2010 we began working with the Kansas City, MO Urban Planning Department, the city council and the mayor to pass codes that better support urban food production and access. We worked with the city to organize the first Kansas City, MO Food Summit, bringing together community leaders, city staff and elected officials to look at how the city is and should be involved in food production and access.

Cultivate KC was a partner in Get Growing Kansas City, a program launched in 2011, which put a multi-organizational team into neighborhoods to help promote and support urban farming and farm businesses and to work with communities and individuals to get food growing in their neighborhoods. We continue that work today with farmers – both as farm businesses and as programs of non-profit organizations.

We continue our work on policy issues, working as a member of the Food Policy Coalition of Greater Kansas City and independently. We’ve started new programs and helped launch new organizations. We’ve helped transform the conversation about urban agriculture in our city.

Statement of Diversity, Sustainability and Justice

Cultivate KC was founded by organic farmers. At its core, organic farming values diversity, interconnectedness, and life. These values underlie our work in building a sustainable, local food system for Kansas City. In the years to come, it is clear that we need to be vocal and powerful advocates for these values – recognizing that diversity give us strength, resiliency, and adaptability in all aspects of our collective lives.